Fearless Predictions: Back to Bristol
Published 12:52 pm Thursday, August 20, 2009
Now that NASCAR’s Cup series has made it through fuel-mileage Michigan, The Glen and the Tricky Triangle, it’s time to get back to some short-track racing at the World’s Fastest Half-Mile: Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Nationwide and Camping World Truck series are also at Bristol, with Kyle Busch snapping Ron Hornaday’s win-streak in the trucks on Wednesday night.
The Cup Sharpie 500 is Saturday (4:30 p.m., ESPN) and the Nationwide Food City 250 is today (5 p.m., ESPN2). With the two series at the same venue, you can expect to see a lot of drivers pulling double duty, but Ryan Newman is going for quadruple duty. Newman ran in both the NASCAR Whelen Series and truck series races on Wednesday, and he’s planning on taking part in the Nationwide and Cup events.
With just three races left in the Race to the Chase, only points leader Tony Stewart has clinched a spot in NASCAR’s championship playoff. Teammates eff Gordon (No. 2 in points) and Jimmie Johnson (No. 3) are the only two drivers who can lock themselves into the Chase this weekend, but most of the attention will be going to the other end of the scale.
A head-scratching gamble on fuel mileage at Michigan last weekend dropped Mark Martin to No. 12, with Michigan winner Brian Vickers (No. 13), Clint Bowyer (No. 14) and Kyle Busch (No. 15) all within 70 points of him. Martin’s season has been wreckers or checkers — his four wins are the most of any driver — so he needs to have three solid runs and hope the drivers racing him to the Chase don’t.
After several weeks of just two or three races, every series is back on the track this weekend. In addition to NASCAR at Bristol and the NHRA at Maple Grove Raceway (see below), there are two open-wheel races on Sunday.
The IndyCar Series is on our side of the country for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway’s road course in Sonoma, Calif. (2:30 p.m., Versus), and Formula One returns to action with the European Grand Prix on the Streets of Valencia (Spain) road course (5 a.m. live and replayed at 1:30 p.m., SPEED).
The NHRA Full Throttle Series is also closing in on its playoff, with just two events left for drivers to make it into the top 10 for the Countdown to 1. This weekend the series is at Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pa., for the Toyo Tires NHRA Nationals (qualifying at 10 p.m., Saturday, ESPN2; eliminations at 7 p.m. Sunday, ESPN2).
Last weekend at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway, much of the action was off the strip. Current After two prior championships and a run to the top of the Funny Car points this season, Tony Pedregon parted company with crew chief Dickie Venables before winning the event by sharing brother Cruz Pedregon’s crew chief.
Meanwhile, John Force decided to shake up his race team by swapping cars with Robert Hight for the final two events of the regular season. Three of Force’s four cars are in the top 10, led by daughter Ashley Force-Hood who has clinched a playoff spot. After not qualifying at Brainerd, Hight’s team is the only one on the outside, and Force wants to give him a chance at racing in the playoff.
Saturday is Fan Appreciation Night at Evergreen Speedway, with admission just $10 for adults and $5 for kids 6-10. Bring a non-perishable food item to help support the Maltby Food Bank and the track will knock $2 off your ticket price. The Super Late Model, Super Figure Eight, Stinger Eight, Street Stock and Mini-Stock divisions set to race on the three-eighths mile oval and figure-eight course.
Last weekend at Skagit Speedway four drivers, including feature winner Travis Rutz, eclipsed the 410 Sprint track record set by Kasey Kahne six years ago. Skagit owner Steve Beitler said earlier this week that his maintenance crew was trying some new things to get the track ready for racing; whatever they’re doing, it’s working. The 410, 360 and Sportsman Sprints are back in action this Saturday, as are the Outlaw Hornets.
Bristol’s concrete surface is just right for Carl Edwards to get his first NASCAR Cup win of the season, but I like Kyle Busch to further his series lead with a win in the Nationwide race.
In the IndyCar race at Infineon, I’ll go with Marco Andretti to get his second career win at the same track where he got his first in 2006. Over in Spain, let’s say Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull gets back atop the podium.
For the NHRA event at Maple Grove, I’ll go with Larry Dixon in Top Fuel, Ashley Force-Hood in Funny Car, Mike Edwards in Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
